Hater and Hated
by pandemonin
Summary: What if Sakura hates Syaoran - as in REALLY hates him? And just when Sakura thought she had gotten rid of Syaoran, they meet again and in the most troublesome way. The only thing she looks forward to despite Syaoran's annoying presence is Eriol. So, how are these three gonna survive? Read and review please! :)
1. Chapter 1 - She Meets Him

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own __CardCaptor Sakura - only the additional characters. Please read and give me your thoughts about it :)_

**Hater and Hated**

**Chapter I - She Meets Him**

"Where is my shampoo? I'm sure there was still some remaining." Sakura Kinomoto, a 16-yr old freshman of Tokyo University, was turning all her things, searching for her shampoo. When another girl with long, black hair came in and saw her making mess, she asked, "Miko nee-chan, have you seen my shampoo? I can't seem to find it."

Sakura didn't receive any response other than the stifled laugh. She directed Miko a questioning stare. "S-sorry." Miko apologized, holding back her laughs. "It's just that you really seem to forget things so easily, considering that I'm four years older than you. Your memory fails you more than mine does. Didn't you throw it already yesterday after you clumsily dropped it in the bowl?"

Realizing what her roommate-slash-cousin said, the young girl turned red, embarrassed – probably because she forgot what happened or the fact that it fell on the bowl. "Uh, y-yeah, you're right." She was scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. "And it seems like I forgot to buy some." She said, still embarrassed.

Miko patted her shoulder and pointed at something. "Don't worry. You can get from my stack of sachets." Then, shyly, she got one and thanked Miko for it.

Finally, after being inside the bathroom for about an hour, carrying the empty sachet, she was looking for something- a trash bin to throw it into when she suddenly heard a familiar TV commercial about the same brand of shampoo she was holding.

Sakura saw lots of sachets flying in the TV screen with prints of "DSLR", "Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.0", and different amounts of money. That's when she remembered the promo. Quickly, she opened the sachet. Then she stared back at the screen. She watched the rest of the commercial with disappointment and shock written all over her face.

There was a man walking alone in a busy street and on his line of sight was the Eifel Tower. He stared at it longingly. That's when a voice said, "Maybe YOU are the girl he's been waiting for! So hurry up and buy sachets of _Raffie_ in any variant and open to find out what lies waiting for you!"

She could only sigh and realized that Miko wasn't there. "I guess I'll tell her later then."

Sakura was about to lock their apartment door when she remembered that she left the sachet. "Why do I forget the most important things?" She wondered as she walked her way towards the nearest mall.

It has already been almost two months since this auburn-haired girl lived quite independently from her parents. After being accepted at the most prestigious university in Japan, she decided that this was the time she should learn independency.

She currently stays at an apartment near the campus with her distant cousin, Miko, who she just met when she came to Tokyo.

Her family actually never gave her much pressure with regards to her studies ever since she was a kid 'cause they knew how responsible she was. That's why, they gave her everything she needed and wanted but their love is seen a bit differently by their only daughter.

She was thinking that she was already spending too much of her parents' money that she might have already have extracted every cent they have just to finance her studies and some silly wants. Even her two brothers aren't given this much attention. "That's why I must do this!" She convinced herself.

Without her noticing it, she has already arrived at her destination and proceeded to the redemption booth and presented the sachet she got. The man in-charge gave her an awarding smile and said, "Congratulations! You must be really excited to get your price, aren't you?"

She didn't know why the man in-charge was congratulating her with just what she got, but she had to be respectful so she gave him an off-willed smile. The man told her to wait for a while and he talked to someone over the phone and it hasn't reached ten minutes when a man in a tailor suit came and was greeted by the man she had talked with before.

The man in the tailor suit faced her and shook her hands. "Today must be your lucky day! Are you excited to get your prize? I'm sorry but could you wait for a little while? There are some people who want to meet with you. I've already spread the word and they wanted to meet you so that they could award it to you, personally."

"There really is no need for that." She refused, wanting to return to her room soon. She did not see why she has to meet up with them, but the man talked her into it, so she accepted. "When?" she asked.

"Right now." The man eagerly replied.

"What? But it's so sudden. I didn't even have time to ask permission." Sakura said in surprise.

"Alright then. You should call home now 'cause we must hurry." The man reminded her.

She decided that she'll only tell Miko but she wasn't picking up her phone. 'I guess there's no need to worry much. I'll just have to go home before dinner.' She thought as she closed her phone and said that she was ready to leave.

A woman in her early 30's came up to her and said, "I'll accompany you there. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be in a man's presence the whole time. Anyways, I'm Kobayashi Fumi, the lawyer of the company responsible for _Raffie_, Toshika Corp., and I'm here to escort you." Sakura gladly shook hands with her and followed the woman obediently.

She was quite surprised when the lady led her to luxurious silver Mercedes Benz, seeing that she was supposed to get inside, she smiled shyly and rode in it before Fumi.

The engine revved away and Fumi realized that Sakura was bothered by something. "The manager didn't tell you where we're going, huh?" the younger girl nodded shyly and the older one gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry. We're meeting them at a hotel. If you're wondering where, you'll have to wait and see."

The girl just smiled, feeling a bit relieved that Fumi will be with her while she gets to meet those people. She felt that Fumi was somehow a good person so she believed in her.

A pair of blue eyes was scrutinizing the girl who was staring outside the moving car quietly and musing herself. "Can I call you Sakura-chan?" she asked suddenly, making the auburn-haired girl a bit surprised but then nodded in approval. The lady giggled a bit and said, "You really are a shy type, aren't you?" Sakura blushed pink at her sudden remark. "See. You don't even retort on my comments."

"I'm...I mean it's just that I'm not used to speak in this language yet. I still feel awkward." She confessed, not making any eye contact with the person beside her.

The woman was interested and asked, "From where are you, anyway?"

Sakura was hesitating to tell whether the name of the province or the city itself and finally answered, "From Hong Kong."

"_Really? I grew up there, too!"_ Fumi replied in Mandarin. It took Sakura for a while to digest what she heard. She turned towards Fumi and saw her smiling. _"It looks like you don't believe in me?"_

Sakura chuckled, realizing that she must've looked rather idiotic. "_No, it's not like that. I was just surprised. I never expected to meet someone who's also from Hong Kong."_

"_What's your family name, again?" _Fumi asked the delighted girl.

"_Amamiya." _She answered.

As expected, Sakura saw Fumi realizing something. "_Are you connected to their governor there?"_

"_Yes, he's my father's older brother." _She explained, as if it had been spoken more than a dozen times before.

"_You mean 'The Engineer Amamiya' is your father'?" _Sakura nodded. "_I was attending most of the parties your family had been hosting but I don't quite recall your face. I know that he also has two boys...wait-" she_ was thinking deeply when suddenly she remembered something. "_You have celebrated your birthday together with Ichi when you were 6, ne?" _She again nodded. "_That's odd. All I can remember about you was when you were 6. I can't seem to recall when you were even younger."_

Sakura laughed awkwardly and said, "_I guess I was too shy?"_ The answer was more of a question than a statement. She was not sure why but somehow, she managed to tell Fumi some things that had been troubling her, but when she realized that she poured it all out to someone she had just met, she turned red and faced towards the window in embarrassment.

"Hey, Fumi-san-" She was cut-off by Fumi.

"Too formal. I would like you to call me nee-chan. Plus, you don't have to worry about what you said. I'll tell no one about it. I was quite surprised with what you said, though. Both of them laughed and chatted animatedly, peaceful with the other's presence. They seemed to have told each other everything about themselves when the chauffer stopped the car and said, "We have arrived, Madam."

"I guess we have to continue later. Everyone had been waiting for us." Fumi got out after a valet opened their door as Sakura followed suit.

In her surprise, she was greeted by a 75-storey building. "Whoa! So huge!" A greater surprise hit her when she saw the large sign above them, "SHIRO HOTEL?" She racked her brain for that familiar name.

"HOOOEEE!" Almost every people within the ten-mile radius heard her shriek. Feeling embarrassed, she apologized continuously and stared at Fumi questioningly. "Why didn't you tell me we're going off the main island? I thought we were just going somewhere at the heart of the city."

Fumi was rather amused with the girl's reaction. "Don't worry. I'll call Miko later. I'm sure she'll understand. Stop worrying and let's get inside now. We have a lot of people to talk with about your decision." Then again, she gave her an assuring smile.

Fumi held the girl's hand while they entered the lobby and into the VIP restaurant where three old men in tuxedos, a man in his late 30's and a face she had already seen many time in TV were waiting for them, sitting around a circular well-polished table.

"Shiro-san, this is the girl who was lucky to have got the winning sachet." Fumi faced Sakura and one-by-one introduced themselves to her. They rather welcomed her warmly.

The three old men are the highest officers of the company that made _Raffie._ The man in his late 30's is the manager of the last man. "And lastly, as you may have already known, he is Li Syaoran."

'Li Syaoran, a man in his early 20's is already one of the most famous leading actors in the whole of Asia. He has already starred in a lot of TV series and also award-winning movies for the past six years- that is, according to what Fumi nee-san told me. Such a successful man, I might say.' Sakura thought while forcefully smiling at something beside the actor.

Breaking her thought, Fumi introduced her. "And this young lady here is Amamiya Sakura, a Freshman of Tokyo University." One-by-one they shook hands with her, saying things like: "Nice to have met an intellectual child." Or "Congratulations for winning." Or "Thank you for purchasing our product."

All she replies is, "Me, too. It's an honor to meet you." And "Thank you." Attached with an obliged smile.

In reality, Sakura doesn't like meeting the likes of actors and actresses 'cause there is one- and only one- impression in her mind attached to being actors and actresses. "The greater the achievement being actors, the more pretentious they are." But she, herself, is also one of the greatest pretenders of all.

So when the chocolate-haired actor came closer to greet her with a "grateful" smile, she also gave an equal smile, but didn't reply when he said, "I'm really looking forward to that one-week trip to Paris." He made his voice as alluring as possible and even kissed the girl's hand.

The auburn-haired girl didn't expect him to, specifically, kiss her hands, making her blush a little. 'I would have the same reaction if another guy would do the same thing to me.' She made an excuse for herself.

Pretending to be delighted with his actions, she smiled sweetly, yet her pair of emerald orbs remained blank. "I'm so touched. Thanks." She finally replied, almost forgetting to hide the sarcasm.

The rest were really amused at the two's interaction and didn't even made a sound to interrupt them until the actor let the girl sit at a chair across him and the rest followed.

"I can already see that the two of you would have the greatest time in Paris. Looks like they are already in terms with each other." One of the board members commented and the other two seemed to agree while Fumi and the manager were chuckling at something different.

"Actually, about the trip, Sakura has something to ask from you." Fumi said after recovering from the earlier program. She signalled Sakura to start explaining.

The nervousness she felt before had vanished since she amused herself into something else, smirking to herself. She sat straight and acted business-like, swiftly changing to some poor girl from a sweet one.

"I was really thrilled to have found out that I won the trip to Paris with Li-san. I really think that it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance, for the fact that it is Paris, the city of romance. It is every girl's dream to go there, especially being escorted by a gorgeous and successful actor like Li-san..." she trailed off. No one interjected, knowing that she has still things to say and she nearly want to explode to laughter but tried her best to hold it in, seeing that the actor's ears were growing bigger.

Everyone was waiting for her to finish speaking, anxious on what she would have liked to ask them. Then she continued. "As you may have heard a while ago, I'm still a freshman at Tokyo University. I am actually living far away from home and there are two of us in the family who is in college and our youngest is in his third year in high school. My parents are just government employees but they kept on telling me not to worry about the money I'm going to need even though they are actually pushing themselves to the limit just to support us and I know that I am spending too much."

She didn't expect that the board members would actually sympathize with her so easily and that even Li and his manager would be spell-bound with her words. She, herself, didn't actually think that she could manage to make her eyes watery as she told them her enthralling speech.

And to end it, she said, "That's why I'm here to ask a favour that if it's fine with you, instead of going to the trip, I would like to ask for something in equivalence." Everyone except Fumi was surprised with her request. She faced the actor and said, "I know that you have other businesses that you should have attended at the time you were waiting for me and now that I'm talking here. I'm so sorry to have bothered you much. I know that this trip would have been the greatest time of my life but I just want to help my family rise from poverty through graduating in time from college and to work hard in the future.

"I just can't help to see my family suffer while I go and have the greatest time of all." Sakura was really into letting Li think that she had a hard time thinking if she'd accept or reject the promo. "That's why I'm begging all of you to please consider my request." The girl was doing her all to make them agree.

When she glanced at Fumi, she saw her smile amusingly. She was looking at the three old men who are near to agree.

Seeing that they still need a bit of push, Fumi said, "I have already analyzed our situation here. I asked Sakura a while ago how much she'd like to have instead of going ahead with the trip and answered me, 'I'm okay with at most half of the total expenses the trip would cost.' In that way, we would be able to allocate the rest to our other projects or even use it to some philanthropic activities."

"What she wishes is actually equal to a four-year tuition fee in her University and the remaining of her share in the half. If we accept her offer, not only she will benefit from it but the company, as well." Fumi and Sakura were eagerly waiting for the three old men to approve of it.

After discussing it with each other, Shiro-san, the president of the company asked Sakura "Are you 100% sure about this?" Without hesitation, she nodded. Then he faced Li and asked, "What can you say about this?"

Sakura was staring at him, trying her best not to give him a try-to-disapprove-and-you'll-not-see-the-sun-set look and instead, looked pitiful while thinking, 'I know what you're thinking. You're too relieved you don't have to spend a week pretending to have a great time with someone like me but then again, I ruined your schedule for having to tell you that I would just have to reject the promo when you could have a rest in your too-luxurious vacation houses with some women you flirted with.'

As she would have expected for him to answer, he said as he stared at Sakura, "That's really a pity. I was totally looking forward to spending a great week with you in Paris but I know that you still have to do your best to finish college to help your family, so" he reverted his glance at the old men and said, "I say that you should accept her request." Then he reverted back his attention to her. "I really do admire your way of thinking. There aren't many kind of people like you nowadays, are there?"

Sakura smiled gratefully, this time not pretending one. "Thank you. I know you could understand me." But behind those words, she was thinking, 'If someone else would have told me that, I would gladly believe it but then again, you're not someone else.'

Finally, the president sighed in surrender and said to Fumi, "I'll leave it up to you to settle the paperwork of this agreement. Make sure that the University recognizes her scholarship 'cause we don't want any future problems for this bright young lady. I'm sure she did the right choice."

This time, Sakura stood up and bowed thankfully at the three officials, honestly. "Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me. I can't thank you enough. I'll make sure that you'll see that you didn't make the wrong decision. Again, thank you."

The three men also stood up and shook her hands. "We should be the one thanking you. For the half of the cost will be given to the unfortunates who want to study to help their family in the future just like what you also want."

Those words made the girl even more happy and delighted, forgetting the actor for a while.

"I'm sure you are tired from travelling and dealing with us, old people. Fumi has already settled your room here so please feel free to use any services here. We really are glad to have you here." The last old man said gently and spoke to Fumi, "Make sure that by tomorrow lunch everything has been settled and that our special guest would be enjoying her stay here."

"Rest assured. I have already made the initial arrangements before we arrived here." That lady lawyer assured them.

Then they approached the actor and his manager, giving them their apology and appreciation, as well before finally exiting the hall.

When the young man and his manager were about to exit, as well, they passed by the two women who were already near the door. "Well, we must be going as well. Nice meeting you." The manager said to Fumi.

When Li passed them, he smiled at Sakura whose left side can only be seen by the actor and said, "I hope we can see each other again-" he stopped when he saw that she was actually talking to the phone and rather felt embarrassed, but when he saw that no one was watching him, he continued walking, as if nothing happened.

As soon as no one was already in sight, Fumi started chuckling quite louder than usual.

"I guess you've seen that. Oh how priceless his face was. _It took me great effort not to laugh when he was here." _Sakura said, giggling, as well._ "Do you think he knows that I've been messing with him?"_

Fumi raised two thumbs up and said, "If I didn't know you, I would have surely believed your antics. _This is our first meeting, but I had the impression that you are definitely evil."_ The two of them laughed until the auburn-haired girl realized something.

"Now that I remember, I don't have any clothes. How am I going to change clothes? I can't meet them again with these." Sakura asked, panicking.

"_You sure are evil but a frantic one, at that._ Don't worry. We're going shopping. And don't worry about the bills. I already allocated some of your money for clothes and also to commemorate the start of our sisterhood, I'll treat you!_" _seeing that she couldn't do anything to stop the older woman, she surrendered and let herself be pulled towards the car, which drove them from one store to another.

She was dragged from stores to stores, being dolled up and bought what the older one thinks best suits the younger one, squealing "KAWAIII!" all the time.

They also bought something for Miko, who is, for sure, going to rattle with not bringing her along.

What the auburn-haired girl didn't like the most was when she was dragged into a summer outfit boutique where Fumi forced her to try out some bikinis but she refused to try so many so they ended up buying the one and only she fitted.

It was a two-piece, purple bikini. Fortunately, when she fitted it, no one besides Fumi and the sales girl who was busy in front of a computer was in the store or she wouldn't have gotten out of the changing room.

"Why do I really have to buy a bikini?" Sakura asked the black-haired woman who was evilly smiling at her success of forcing her in buying one.

"Because we are going night swimming tonight!" she answered enthusiastically. "We should have our dinner now since we didn't have lunch today. After that, we'll watch a movie then the much-awaited night swimming!"

Sakura couldn't do anything else but join in as well in Fumi's enchantments. They had dinner in a fancy restaurant then watched a dramatic movie. Both were gushing rivers of tears when the movie ended. When they got out of the theatre, they hurriedly went back to he hotel and asked some attendants to carry their shopping items in two full carts into Sakura's room and quickly changed into their swimsuits.

Sakura was still shy in her bikini so she put on the same sleeveless hoodie she wore before over the bikini and went to the shore with Fumi.

At the age of 33, Fumi's body has already matured – accentuated with a one-piece, red bikini leaving a little portion of her front covered made her appear sexier.

Fortunately, no one other than the two of them and two maids from a cottage are at that place, which intrigued her, too.

"This is actually an off-limits to common customers, and since you are a special guest and that the owner was fond of you, we can have an access here to our hearts' content." The lawyer explained.

With only the bright full moon lighting the area, Sakura wore off her hoodie, still a bit shy but was pulled into the sea by the black-haired woman. They played like they were true sisters who were reunited after a long time of separation.

They still have not reached 15 minutes having fun when one of the maids called out to Fumi, saying that there was a phone call for her. So using a cordless phone, she spoke with the person on the other line.

Sighing deeply, Fumi explained to Sakura what happened and that she needs to go there personally to fix some things for her scholarship.

Without any other choice, Sakura said, "Awww and I was having fun. I'm sorry I shortened your rest." She then felt a hand on her head.

"You don't have to apologize. I should be the one doing that. You won't have the time to have fun." Fumi said as she dried herself.

"No, don't worry about me. You've already shopped, ate and watched a movie with me. I had so much fun today. You should go now, nee-chan. I'll stay here and _so that I can do some emoting here._" They both laughed.

Fumi looked at the younger girl worriedly before she and one of the maids went back. "Be careful and don't stay too late out here!" she reminded her.

When they were gone, Sakura noticed that the other maid left with her was getting bored, so she told her that she can go back first and that she'll just take a walk for a while and come after. It took the maid for a while before agreeing to go on ahead. She wore her hoodie back but didn't close it.

She just sat there, at the shore, feeling relaxed as the wave hits her feet at a nice rhythm. She stared at the moon's reflection on the water. She was somehow hypnotized into staring at it that she didn't notice someone coming towards her.

"What does a beautiful young lady doing here all alone?" A low voice suddenly asked.

In response to this, the young girl shrieked and jumped almost ten meters from her original spot, cowering like a frightened little child. "HOOOEEE! Don't come near me! The other ghosts do not like how I taste!" She continued shrieking while burying her head between her knees and swatting her hands, as if to keep anyone from coming near her.

Seeing the girl act weird, the man who, apparently, scared her couldn't help but laugh his heart out. When she heard him laughing, she took a look at him and when she realized who the man was 'Li Syaoran.' She thought bitterly.

**...-...**

**Author's Note: **So, how was it? Review please! Thanks you! Criticisms are accepted 3


	2. Chapter 2 - She Hates Him

**Chapter II - She Hates Him**

Fortunately for her, the moon was the only source of light around, hiding the redness of her face. "Ahem!" She cleared her throat, getting the man's attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He said, composing himself. He stood straight, his lean body showing off due to the fact that he has no shirt and he wore just board shorts, also showing off his torso. "I just got carried away. I didn't think that you were a scared-y cat." He said, smiling.

"Really?" Sakura asked sarcastically as she stood up, dusting off the sand on her legs. That's when she realized that she was showing off her bikini, making her blush even more and started moving towards the hotel.

When she passed the man, she stopped and faced him, "I forgot to tell you that all those comments I gave you were part of my acting. If you could have only seen your face when you realized that I was on the phone. Ha! That was priceless! You know what, it had really been a dream of mine to see a famous actor's dejected face and seeing yours now just made my dream come true." She said with a smirk then continued walking away.

Instantly, the man held Sakura's hand, holding her back. "What do you mean by that?" Amber orbs stared through a pair of emerald eyes.

"Let me go!" the girl was trying to free herself from his clutch but couldn't manage to. "And to think that you were too gentle with me this morning." This made Syaoran let go of her. "This just proved how good you are as an actor." She said with such bitterness while rubbing her wrist.

"Pretending to be the 'perfect' person he is in front of other people and now that no one but you and I are here, you make fun and even hurt me physically." Sakura pointed out, glaring at the shirtless actor in front of her who was speechless and his blood boiling.

With all the complaining the auburn-haired girl was pouring out on the chocolate-haired actor, he couldn't even rebut a single word, making his anger pile up one after another.

"And you think that I will also be- oomph" emerald orbs flew wide open when out of the blue, Syaoran swiftly pulled her towards him, placing an arm on her back and the other on the back of her head. Aggressively, he lingered his lips on her untouched ones.

That incident caught her off-guard for a while and she actually wanted to let his lips touch her more but his actions became too aggressive that when she recovered, she pulled herself away from him and slapped him on the face.

"How dare you do that without asking my permission? Don't you know how many people have been on those filthy lips of yours? Heaven knows who or where you've met them. Maybe some of them you just picked out from the street. Do you think I'd want to have them touch mine, as well? Then guess what? No, I don't and you are the worst kisser!" The girl complained as she tried to control down the redness of her face.

Syaoran smirked and raised one eye brow, saying, "Really? I thought you were going to complain that I stole your first kiss but I guess you are not a sweet, virgin girl I actually thought you were."

Sakura was surprised at his response and this made her regret what she answered back. "Unexpectedly, you are right about that assumption. You really did steal my first kiss" But admitting defeat was not in her manual. "but I still couldn't help the fact that you stained my lips with those ones that you forcibly kissed me with." The girl said, disgusted.

"Aren't you a shy girl? Don't be shy. I know that you were delighted with what I did." He said, sweetly.

"Oh, my. You got me." Sakura suddenly changed emotion in an instant. Then the next thing he knew, she was playing with her fingers with head bowed, bangs covering her eyes. "How'd you know I was shy?"

Actually, the actor was also surprised with her sudden change and was about to answer her question when the girl beat her to it saying "NO. It's alright. I know that I was apparently TOO SHY." She emphasized. "Too shy to tell you that..." the girl giggled shyly. "You are the most idiotic man I've ever met!" Her shy voice instantly turned outrageously loud.

"Do you really think that because you are an actor- a high-class man with a body and face you can show off you can do anything you want, especially to me? All you know is how to act in front of many people. Yet you don't actually know when to stop or when somebody else is acting up on you."

Having received those words from someone he only know by name and face, from someone who he also, unexpectedly kissed a few moments ago, he couldn't help but get frustrated and ask, "What have I done to you that you wouldn't stop complaining?"

"What? You're asking why I hate you?" the girl asked strongly, as if it was an obvious question. "Isn't it too obvious? You're an actor! And actors are all the same! Simple." She answered, as if stating a general truth.

He couldn't make anything out of what she said after thinking over it three times. "I really couldn't understand you. What does it have to do with my being an actor? Is it because you are jealous that I am one and you are not?" he suggested.

His words worsen her already-bad mood. "Why would I be jealous of something I hate in the first place? That's why! It's because all you, alleged actors, only know one thing about life- acting! Pretending about everything even when there's no camera around! Do you think that normal and _true_ people are like the ones on the script that it's alright to act around with them as you like?"

Images came flooding into her mind, making her tears run down her cheeks as she ran away from him, leaving him to absorb what has been said.

"What was that for? Was what she said acceptable? As if she knows anything about being an actor." Syaoran lied down on the sand, exhausted. He stared off into the dark sky that looked like a black veil.

Her words kept repeating inside his mind. _"All you, alleged actors, only know how to act that even there's already no camera around, you still keep on acting, playing people's lives around you!" _the young man instantly sat up, troubled by what he remembered.

'Her expression was truly sincere. It showed too much emotions – negative emotions that must have drowned her once, leaving her soaking wet after safely grabbing onto a stone. It's as if she really does mean what she said.' His mind was then completely troubled with the girl who hated actors, for some reason he couldn't fathom.

After running away from the actor, Sakura managed to dry off her tears before entering the hotel, thinking that Fumi might have already come back.

She opened her room and darkness welcomed her. Although it was dark, she didn't mind opening the lights and followed a small streak of light, coming from a balcony facing the ocean and having the full view of the moon.

On the balcony, there was a round table with three chairs surrounding it, pots of different flowers, vines hanging from above and two couches that are farthest from each other.

She sat on one of the couches, hugging her knee towards her chest while staring at the moon. "Why do I have to break down in front of that guy? This was the first time I did something honest that is against my will." What she did a while ago flashed into her mind. "That was really embarrassing. I must have looked really stupid to him."

Out of the blue, a memory about her mother and father came into mind, causing her to hug her knees stronger and her nails to digging into her skin further. "I despise actors."

The next morning, she woke up in her bed, with a blanket over her body in pyjamas. 'When did I get here and how is it that I am not wearing last night's clothes?" Sakura thought, curiously.

Knowing that staying in bed, wondering what happened would not give her the answers she was looking for, she stood up and exited her room after fixing the bed.

She smelled the fresh smell of the ocean and thought that someone might be in the balcony and when she had gone out, there is, indeed, someone sitting on one of the chairs around the round table.

"Oh, you're up. Great timing! Our breakfast just arrived. Come here and join me." It was Fumi. She was wearing a new set of suit already. Seeing that the girl was not moving, she came to her instead and pushed her towards the table and let her sit. "You must be surprised to see me here after you woke up. Actually, it's already near lunch, so you need to eat and it is terribly lonely to eat alone at my room."

Sakura stared at the meal in front of her but she couldn't recognize even one dish. "Uhm...nee-chan..." She looked at Fumi. "What are these? These aren't Japanese food, are they?"

The older lady smiled and said, "Yes, you're right. These are actually Mexican food. They are spicy though, you alright with that?" she asked.

Looking at the food again, Sakura was not sure what to eat first 'cause she loves spicy foods and that those cuisines are new to her. "Really? These are Mexican food? Are they really spicy?" Fumi smiled as she nodded, seeing that the girl was already in the mood. "Okay! I'll taste this one first!" the girl exclaimed while poking his fork on the dish closest to her.

Fumi was entertaining herself by looking at the girl looking delighted every time she takes a bite of a dish. "Hey, Sakura. Why were you crying when you slept last night?" She suddenly asked.

The auburn-haired girl was caught off-guard with the question that she stopped eating. She looked at Fumi and asked, "Did I really cry last night?" Fumi nodded. "So you were the one who brought me to my bed?"

"Didn't you remember?" The lawyer asked and when the girl replied with a questioning nod, she said, "I came here last night and I saw you crying in your sleep here at the balcony. Then I woke you up and you changed your clothes then went back to sleep on your bed. Don't you really remember it?" Fumi chuckled when Sakura honestly answered with a nod.

Now that Fumi mentioned it, she somehow felt something wet on the pillow she was sleeping on when she fixed her bed. She recalled what happened before she fell asleep and an image of a certain chestnut-haired guy came in mind.

She suddenly lost her appetite, so she placed her spoon down on her plate and excused herself from Fumi, saying something about upset stomach.

Fumi was surprised at her bluntness, not realizing she was excusing herself from something other than that.

Locking the door of the bathroom, Sakura felt stupid for what happened the night before, and felt her self drop to the ground.

She could feel the tears well up again in her eyes, but she had enough of crying in her eyes so she wiped it all away with her hands and after having the energy to stand, she faced the mirror and saw a pair of lifeless emerald orbs staring back at her.

The cold water somehow brought her back to her senses. Finally, after sighing a couple of times, she fixed herself and was about to go out when she remembered something.

She flushed the toilet.

In some odd ways, that made her feel a bit lighter.

Fumi left her after having breakfast because she needed to finalize all the paper works for Sakura so that she can go back to her apartment.

She said that she can do anything while waiting for her to return or order anything she wants. And so, after an hour of staring at the ceiling, she decided to roam around and explore the hotel.

She was mesmerized at the beautiful paintings and artefacts all around the hotel, but what mostly caught her interest was the large garden inside the hotel. She wonders how they can maintain the growth of the plants.

When she felt thirsty, she decided to go to the hotel's restaurant. And, just like in any other room of the hotel, she couldn't help being amazed at the large monument in the middle of the hall.

"You really are an astounding girl." Sakura turned around and saw Shiro-san. He walked towards her, giving her a gentle smile.

The girl returned the smile and was not sure what he meant by what he said. "Oh, nice seeing you, sir."

The old man just stared at the garden and said, "I have seen you since a while ago. You seem to like these kinds of things. I saw you admire the artefacts around the hotel. Even the garden did not escape those appreciative eyes of yours. Not many kids of your age appreciate them. I sure am happy to have met you."

Sakura was surprised at his words. She didn't know that someone was watching her and that she was praised just by admiring the pieces of art and nature. "Yes, they give me this warm feeling of being alive. I sometimes wish that I have enough talent to share to others and give them the same feeling these art gave me."

The old man smiled at her words and patted her head. "I know you have that talent. You just need to find out what it is but the most important thing is what your purpose for it."

Sakura was glad that she met Shiro-san and made her morning but when her eyes started to wander behind the old man, they grew wider in surprise. But before she could excuse herself, Shiro beat her to it. "Oh, that's right. Since you don't seem to have someone with you now, why don't you join me and Li-san have lunch?"

Her body froze for a moment but then she composed herself in a matter of seconds. Knowing that it would be impolite to decline this rare chance to be with this kind man, she raised a white flag in defeat. "Oh, it would be a pleasure for me to join you to lunch, especially with Li-san here." She replied, giving Syaoran a smile.

The amber-eyed boy was surprised at the girl's action. He expected her to decline and snob him after what happened the night before but, instead, the opposite happened – she even smiled at him. Throughout the meal, he was wondering why she was acting towards him like nothing ever happened between them. The thought of the girl from last night was not this girl in front of him had crossed his mind. But he dismissed that assumption 'cause he's sure as he has never been so sure before that this girl who is cheerfully chatting up with them is the same girl who threw all those blames at him and the one he, unexpectedly, kissed at the shore last night.

He still could not forget what happened – as if it was just moments ago that this happened. It bugged him all night to the extent that he hadn't had any sleep last night. Well, he did actually sleep but when he did, he still dreamt about what had occurred. He woke up, sweating and he never went back to sleep after that.

When it was almost lunch, he fixed himself up and decided to walk around the hotel and on his walk, he met with Shiro, who asked Syaoran to join him for lunch. They were on their way to the cafeteria when they spotted a certain auburn-haired girl staring at the artworks with much excitement. Shiro was fond at looking at the girl marvelling at the things that has always captivated him so they kept on walking at a slow pace and followed that particular girl.

Syaoran could almost have felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of Sakura's "other self" but was woken up from his reverie when a man in suit excused himself and talked to Shiro.

"I'm sorry I couldn't accompany you longer but I have to leave right now. I have some matters to attend to." Shiro apologized as he stood up. "I really had a great time talking to the both of you. I hope we see each other soon. And please finish your meal without me." And so, he walked away with the other man, leaving just the two of them.

Sakura was quiet the whole time she was finishing her meal. Syaoran realized the sudden change of mood, so he started to ask her what happened but was beat to it when the girl suddenly placed her utensils down and excused herself. Takumi was surprised at her sudden behaviour that it took him quite some time for it to register.

He looked for where she might have gone to and, there, at the elevator, he found Sakura getting in. He tried running towards it to catch up on her. He did not mind the curious stares directed at him by the people who saw him, and just continued to run. "Wait!" He shouted. Natsuki heard it and saw he was coming so she frantically pushed the button to close it. Unfortunately for her, he got in just in time before it closed.

She actually tried getting off but the door had already closed and the elevator had started moving. She mentally cursed herself.

There were only the two of them inside the elevator, which somehow relieved her- she doesn't need to put up an act anymore, but then again she's alone with the person she currently hates the most.

She wanted to bang her head against the wall because she has to endure this for the next 70 floors. 'Why did I even take the non-stop ride?'

Thanks to her pride, she still has her head in perfect shape. She doesn't want to look crazy and pitiful to her currently 2nd most-hated person in the world.

After catching up his breath, Syaoran stared at the girl who was facing the wall of the elevator- her back towards him.

"Kinomoto-san, are you alright? You seem to be avoiding me." He started to ask but he got no answer. He tried repeating two more times, but he still got no response.

He knows that being polite will not do it, and he was already at the limit. "Okay! I'm getting pissed! Why are you oh-so-sweet to me when there are people but when we're alone you fire at me accusations and as well as avoiding me as if I did something to you! What have I done to anger you?"

Sakura was already bothered with his non-stop blabbering but still forced herself not to answer and pretended to e-mail someone just to have something to distract her for a while.

Already irritated at her snubbing him, he grabbed her phone and said, "Oh, c'mon! How can you e-mail someone when there's no network coverage inside? Just answer me, dammit!"

This was his first time getting irritated at some girl who he had just met a day before. It is his first time to get angry at someone other than his manager, who knows just what button to push for him to blow. He never even gets angry at anyone in show business. That's why he was surprised at himself when he suddenly got angry at the girl in front of him.

Annoyed, the girl tried getting back her phone but was unsuccessful. "How dare you? Give me back my phone!" She demanded, furiously.

"Tell me first – why are you avoiding me?" he insisted.

The emerald orbs stared at him as if he was supposed to know the answer. "You ask why? Simple – you're an actor!" she answered without hesitation, her voice filled with anger and sorrow.

"There you go again with your 'because you're an actor' reason." He complained, surprising the girl. "What part of being an actor do you hate so much? Do you think all actors are the same just because of the fact that they good in acting?" the girl stood there, not knowing why nothing couldn't come out from her mouth.

"And you say that we keep on acting even on normal, everyday living. Is that why you hate us? Then what do you call what you are doing to me? Aren't you fooling the rest as well?" those words came out his mouth out of frustration. Seeing that she was keeping quiet and was surely hurt, he felt guilty.

"Here, sorry." He said as he tried handing her phone. At that moment, the elevator stopped. The auburn-haired girl ran out of the elevator. Syaoran was too upset to chase her so he decided to return to his room first and rest his head.

When he was looking for his key card, he realized that he still had her phone and decided to return it to her when the phone inside his room rang.

He answered at the sixth ring. It was his manager. "Syaoran, where did you go? I was looking for you ages ago! Don't you dare do that again! Anyway, get your things 'cause we're leaving. The president wanted to talk to you about your work, ASAP!" He decided that he'd have to fix his things before he give back her phone.

When he reached the lobby, he asked the personnel behind the desk if Sakura was still in.

"Sakura Kinomoto...let me see..." the lady searched for the said name. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Li-san. Kinomoto-san had just checked out and left 10 minutes ago. Was there something you'd like to tell her?" she asked.

"She had just checked out? Are you sure she had already left?" He asked, hoping that she hadn't left. Unfortunately, the lady saw her with Fumi leave in a car. "Oh, thank you for the info." He then checked out and met up with his manager.

'I guess I'll have to return this, myself.' He thought as he sighed.

Meanwhile, the auburn-haired girl pretended to feel tired, which is partly true, so that Fumi would not bother her for a while. She was glad to find that when she returned to her room, Fumi said that they can already leave so she took the chance to finally get rid of that guy.

At the elevator incident, she just couldn't tell why she could not rebut at his words. She also felt guilty with what he said. _"You say that we keep on acting even on normal everyday living. Is that why you hate actors? Then what do you call what you are doing to me? Aren't you fooling the rest as well?" _Syaoran's words kept on repeating in her head.

His words somehow hit her. She realized that he was speaking the truth. She was somehow guilty but the hatred she felt was still there.

She was staring outside the window and watched various merchandises of different stores pass by, and saw cellular phones on one shop. That's when she realized that her phone was still with him. 'Oh, shit!'

...-...

**Author's note: **Any word, people? Anything you wanna say? Review please and thank you for reading! 3


	3. Chapter 3 - They Hate Her

_*Edited_

**Chapter III - They Hate Her**

Sakura Kinomoto was already prepared to go to her first day of class. She was already excited to meet different people, but she still has to finish some things regarding her enrolment so after looking for her room and leaving her bag, she dashed off to the registrar's office and settled her enrolment before her class would start.

While she was gone, a black jaguar parked on the parking lot in front of the Math Department. People stared at the person who got out of the vehicle. Gasps and giggles were heard when Syaoran Li got out of his car.

Some just stopped what they were doing and stared in awe at him while others came up to him and asked for his autograph. This was one thing he didn't expect in going to a university.

"Li-kun! Are you here to do a movie?" one girl asked.

Syaoran smiled and shook his head. "No, I'm here to study. I ask for all of you to not cause too much ruckus for me 'cause I'll be just like anyone else here – a student." He wanted it to come out like he was mean but it sure didn't do it right, although the people around him lessened.

He sighed and thought that by the end of the day, they should get tired of him. He came inside the room and found an empty seat on the back of the room and walked towards it, but when he got closer, he saw a bag on it and started to look for another seat. Almost everyone was expecting him to sit beside them, but he saw one vacant seat beside a guy who seemed to have no care in the world.

"Hey, is there someone sitting here?" he asked the guy.

The black-haired guy stared at him and shook his head. "Nope. Go ahead and take it." He said, not minding if he was an actor or not.

Syaoran was grateful for the guy for not bothering him and also for the professor who came in and kept the class quiet and threatened them that if they made a fuss over Syaoran, they'd be marked absent for the day.

Without knowing it, Sakura came in late after finishing her enrolment process. Both her and Syaoran didn't see each other because both were pretty busy on their own world.

When the class ended, Sakura was one of the first few who got out of the classroom and she didn't stay long to witness Syaoran being surrounded by her classmates. She was in a hurry to get her breakfast before her next class would start.

She had a remaining of 4 subjects more for the day, and without noticing it, Syaoran was also in the same classes she was in.

Her day was an uneventful one. She met no one in particular because of her tendency to be a snob when she is not with any of her friends. She sighed at this and thought that she can find new friends by tomorrow. Little did she know that it was about to get true.

She woke up pretty early the next day. She tried to return to her slumber but she couldn't so she decided to prepare herself for another day of school.

Sakura's place can be a walk away from the campus if she wanted and since she has enough time to waste before the start of her first class, she chose to walk her way to her class.

It takes time to get used with ones new surrounding – they say, but it doesn't apply to her. She often heard that most students suffer homesickness on their first few weeks of not being home, but Sakura sure doesn't mind. She actually has already been away from home for more than a month now and she feels fine.

When she had finally arrived at the Math Department, she saw that her room was still not open so she looked for something or someplace to hang out for a while. She went to the end of the hall and sat on the stairs and listened to her mp3 player, tuning out everything around her.

On the other hand, Syaoran woke up to find that the dog next door gave him an early gift for Christmas and he had to clean the poop first before going. He arrived 10 minutes before his first class starts and was grateful that there were less people walking up to him.

Those who walked to him tried to ask for his autograph, number and picture together with them but he refused and gave them a charming smile. "I'm sorry but I can't accept your requests when I'm at school. I'm just an ordinary student now and I just want to study here as peaceful as possible. You do get it, don't you?" he begged and was more grateful when they nodded at him apologetically and went off to return to what they were doing before he arrived.

He sighed thankfully and saw that there were already some people inside and thought otherwise in coming in so he walked his way away from his room, taking in everything around him. He didn't have the luxury to observe them yesterday because of some avid fans making him busy.

When he reached the end of the hall, he saw a flight of stairs and an auburn-haired girl who was sitting on it and was busily scanning her player for the right music.

She didn't seem to notice that he was there. Syaoran stared at her intensely for half a minute and realized who she was. "Kinomoto-san?"

He called out to her for one more time before she responded by raising her head to him and she almost bumped her head on the wall when she backed away from him in surprise.

Sakura saw people staring at them so she gave him her "wonderful" smile and greeted him in the most polite way she could muster. "Oh, Li-san! How nice to see you here!"

This ticked off the actor and hissed at her, "Stop the act, will 'ya?" Sakura was surprised for a bit then dropped her tense shoulders, which she was not aware of.

"Okay if that's what you want." Then she stood up, dusted off her pants and glared at him before walking off from him.

Syaoran remembered something. "Hey, you forgot something!" he called out to her.

Sakura mentally checked her things then answered, "No, I didn't." As she continued walking away.

"Oh, yes you did." He said in a sing-song voice while scooping her phone from his pocket. He knew that they'd somehow meet in campus so he kept her phone with him every time. What he did not expect was to be this close to her.

His voice annoyed her and she turned towards him. "How many times do I need to repeat myself? I di-" she stopped halfway when she realized that it was her phone he was holding out. "Oh, that."

Syaoran smirked. "Yes. You didn't even retrieve it when I was already handing it to you and, instead, you just ran away from me." He recalled as he got closer to her. Sakura couldn't say a thing again as he pointed out what happened.

The chestnut-haired boy gave her the phone and she slowly retrieved it from him, as if waiting for him to do something but she was surprised when she got her phone without any problem. "You think too much." The actor commented and had already turned his body away from her when he heard someone mumble behind him. He thought he heard wrong so he turned around and saw an auburn-haired gal with her head down.

"What? Can you repeat what you said?" he asked, wanting to be sure of what he heard.

He was about to think that he was just thinking things when he heard her voice, now even louder. "T-thank you!" she almost screamed.

Syaoran couldn't believe that he heard right from the one person he thought despised him the most. He may have been fooled once before but, this time, he knew that she was being sincere. His smile widened – both because he heard her thanking him and also because she was already beet red.

He couldn't hide his happiness and a small chuckle erupted from his mouth. The girl, if possible, turned redder at this due to embarrassment. She glared at him and started to walk off.

The amber-eyed boy followed her. "Sorry. Sorry. It's just that I didn't expect you to-" he paused when she turned sharply at him. "Well, thank me 'cause I thought you despise me so much." He stated.

Sakura was actually surprised at what he confessed. "W-well sorry to disappoint you, your majesty but I still am a good enough person to thank someone who did me a favour. Plus, you're not wrong – I still hate you." She defended.

"Okay. Well you're right about that. You should thank me because I gave your phone back." He said, playfully.

The girl gaped at him. "And who was the reason why it was in your possession, anyway?"

The actor has now gained some energy, knowing that they soon can be really good friends. He was quietly following Sakura but his smile was irritating her more. "Why are you here?" she demanded.

"Oh, to return your phone." He said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Yeah, right. You already gave me my phone then why are you still following me? And to top it off, in my class room?" she hissed, trying not to shout at him while everyone in the class was staring at them, specifically at Syaoran.

"Oh, right." He acted dumb. "Well, this is my class, too, classmate." He said, grinning even more.

Before she could utter another word, their math professor came in and everyone became quiet. "Li-san, we are starting our class in a moment so why don't you and your little friend there take your seats before I mark you absent." Sakura couldn't believe what she heard and when she absorbed what the professor said, she came looking for a seat and went towards it.

"Why don't we sit by each other?" Syaoran proposed but when he turned to her once position, he didn't find her there, instead she was already sitting at the back of the class, smirking. He would like to ask the person beside her to let him have that seat but he saw the professor waiting at him, impatiently, to take his seat, so he took the only seat available.

Syaoran could see Sakura's smirk grow wider when he took the seat beside the girl who wears slutty clothes. She was batting her eye lashes profusely when he took his seat and raised her already micro-mini skirt in the process of crossing her dark legs. Nami – the name of the slut, as recollected by Sakura. He wanted to vomit at that moment, but he didn't want to give the full satisfaction of winning to Sakura.

'Oh, if I can get my hands on you...' he mentally thought towards the smirking girl at the back of the class.

"Okay, since everyone has already seated and present, I'll be assigning you your permanent seats for the whole duration of the semester." The professor announced and the students started both complaining and anxious because they can be separated from their groups, and also because they can have a chance of sitting beside the famous actor.

Sakura was quite optimistic at this arrangement. 'There is way a little chance I could be seated next to that delusional guy.'

Their professor started calling out names. Sakura didn't mind anything and just kept on waiting for her name to be called.

Syaoran, on the other hand, kept on hoping that, if possible, he would not be seated beside any of the likes of Nami.

Their seats were arranged by threes and their professor mentioned that the three of them are going to be group mates for the rest of the semester.

When Sakura's name was called, she got up and went towards her permanent seat and there was already someone who was seated on their group and she was glad that it was not the "devil" but what she was not prepared for was that the third person of their group is none other than "Li Syaoran." Their professor called out.

Everyone except the first two members of Syaoran's group was disappointed to find out that they already lost their luck to sit with him. On the other hand, the actor was ecstatic with the news. He instantly got up and went to his seat with a smirk plastered on his handsome face. Every girl he passed by almost melted at the sight of this.

It took Sakura almost half a minute to realize that the last person in her group was the same person standing in front of her, smirking like some crazy people.

"Oh God. Why do I have to suffer in the most brutal way?" she whispered to herself but her voice was louder than she thought.

The boy on her left stared at her curiously while Syaoran took his seat on her right, still smirking and attempted to put his arm over her shoulders when the pissed girl glared at him in full intensity.

"Okay! Okay! I was just giving you something to lean on when this suffering of yours takes its toll on you. You can tell me what's wrong." He said holding up his arms in surrender and giving her a way too cute imitation of a puppy-dog eyes.

"Oh, please stop." She pleaded. "You already know why I am suffering and it is because of you! So don't you dare 'give me a hand' 'cause it'll do the opposite for me, got that? And, by the way, you're not cute." she hissed and glared at him.

Their voices still didn't disturb the class that much because everybody was busy making small chats with the rest of the class. But the other guy in their group was watching them with full attention and couldn't help but let out a small laugh at their exchange.

The two, who were busy minding their own business, stared at him, surprised. Syaoran realized that it was the same guy beside him yesterday. When the guy saw them staring at him he composed himself. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you."

Sakura gaped at his sight. He had long, black, silky hair, which he kept in a messy tail and his alluring azure eyes that twinkled. But the thing that caught her attention was his smile.

His smile almost made her melt. Syaoran observed this and somehow felt his happiness level go down a level. "Ahem." He cleared his throat and returned Sakura to her senses.

"O-oh, it's alright." she stuttered. "We were the ones who are supposed to be asking for forgiveness. We were too loud, right?" she apologized and stared at Syaoran for a second motion. He was about to disagree again when she glared at him and his response became a grunt.

The girl returned her attention to the other guy. "Forget him. He's a bit too arrogant." She apologized. Syaoran rolled his eyes at this.

"No, it's okay. I was actually fond of you two. You sure are close with each other."

Syaoran couldn't help but agree with his words so he nodded enthusiastically at him. Sakura, on the other hand, was surprised at his comment. "No, no! You got it all wrong. Li-san here just wanted to make friends, you know so that he can increase the number of his supporters."

"Hey! Who said something about that?" Syaoran bellowed.

The room instantly became quiet. "Li-san! Not because you are famous that you can interrupt my class!"

Syaoran apologized and glared at Sakura while she stuck out her tongue. "Stick that tongue of yours out again and I'll surely pull it out." He threatened but it didn't scare her, instead, she stuck her tongue out more.

"Okay, class. I'll be giving this time for you to get to know your group mates. And don't leave until I say so." Their professor announced, which caused the students to start making different noises.

"Well since we are going to be stuck together by the end of this semester," Sakura said bitterly, talking about how her life would be like hell with the actor on her side but was somewhat relieved that the other member of their group was a decent guy. "I'm Sakura Kinomoto"

The other guy smiled at her. "I'm Eriol Hiiragizawa. Nice to meet you, Kinomoto-san."

"'Kinomoto-san' is way too formal- Sakura would be fine." She added with a sweet smile.

"Ne, Sakura-chan-" Syaoran was cut off when Sakura faced him with a cold stare.

"That's Kinomoto-san for you, _Li-san_." She sternly replied, emphasizing the formality of his name.

"Why? You are so biased! You let him call you by your first name but I don't? You're too cruel!" Syaoran protested.

If she was not conscious as to how she acts in front of her new friend, she would have snorted. Instead, she cleared her throat and focused with what's in front of them. "The professor's shooting you glares all this time and you don't seem to feel it, do you?"

Syaoran wanted to confirm with what she said so he looked at their professor who was really giving him glares. He was too absorbed talking to Sakura that he didn't notice what was happening. He didn't want to be on his bad side, so he sighed and kept quiet the entire class even though it was against his will.

When they were dismissed, Syaoran wanted to talk more to Sakura but he was circled immediately by other students and by the time he had escaped them, Sakura was no longer there.

Sakura and Eriol had already arrived at their next class. When they were leaving their math class, they found out that they had the same class for almost every subject they have and that they were taking the same course.

She felt so comfortable talking with Eriol, as if she knew him longer than she actually have. "I'm glad I could be with someone I know throughout the day. I'm kind of what you call 'shy.'" Sakura joked.

"You must be kidding. I was thinking that you are a 'Ms. Congeniality' – someone who has dozens of friends, especially after seeing that you are friends with an actor." Ken explained.

"You got it all wrong! I'm not friends with that jerk. I don't even know why he keeps on bothering me when he has all those fans he has to answer to all his whims." Sakura denied.

"Maybe he's just lonely." Eriol suggested.

Sakura scoffed. "Him? Lonely? I doubt that. A guy like him doesn't need an ordinary girl like me."

"Well, I doubt that, too." Sakura stared at Eriol questioningly but said nothing. "Why do you hate the guy so much? He seems to be a nice guy." Eriol asked curiously.

"'Cause he's an actor." Sakura replied without hesitation .

This piqued Eriol's interest. "What's with him being an actor?"

Sakura looked for answers but she didn't want to say anything. "Just...because."

"She's just pissed that I'm more popular than her." Sakura heard a voice behind her say.

She almost jumped from her seat but then recovered. "W-what do you mean? Who would want to be as popular as you? Especially being an actor! I would never want to go into your department if I ever wanted to be popular!" she strongly opposed.

"Let's just see who wins." Syaoran smirked and Sakura took on his challenge.

The next few weeks passed by and the two of them silently waged war with the other with having the higher score in each subject and Eriol was caught up with their antics.

Every time they would have a group activity in their Math class, it was Eriol who was in between the two of them, comparing both of their answers and writing down the correct solution. This became a habit for the three of them – not only in their math class, but also to the rest of their classes. Since Sakura knew no one besides the two of them, she was had no choice but to group with them.

Although they keep on having their silent war, the three of them were inseparable, that's why when Syaoran was called out by his manager for an emergency meeting with a producer, their day seemed almost incomplete.

On the second day when Syaoran was absent, Sakura came to class earlier than usual. There was still no one inside their room and so she decided to eat before class starts. When she left her bag on her seat, she noticed an envelope addressed to her on top of her desk.

She looked for the name of the sender and she wondered why would there be a letter for her so early in the morning. She thought of the possible people who would likely do it but she only knows Syaoran and Eriol.

When she opened it, she was surprised to see a lot of her pictures with Syaoran and Eriol. She wasn't surprised at the thought that there were so many photos of them. It was because in all of her picture, she was headless and there were red writings that said: "slut", "bitch", "two-timer", "user" and a lot more insulting words.

Aside from the pictures, there was also another sheet of paper. She opened it and read, "How dare you leech off of Syaoran? You have no right to just be beside him! We know why you keep on hanging out with him – you just want his money and fame. We pity Syaoran because he's just not seeing it and you even dragged the innocent Eriol with you. You don't look like it, but you really are a slut! Going out with two guys, what a bitch! Stay away from them or we'll expose you."

There was no name and Sakura was getting pissed. "What the heck is this? Are they blind? I'm not the one who keeps on hanging out with that guy! Are they that blind?" Sakura didn't mind the letter that much and just kept it in her bag, thinking that she'd throw it away later.

After eating, she came back to her classroom and she was surprised that Syaoran was there.

"You came early today, didn't you? Did you really want to see me that much?" He asked, smirking.

"Dream on!" She said as she took her seat but inside, she felt lighter after seeing him there.

When the three of them entered the cafeteria, everyone was staring at them and kept quiet. And after some time, the buzzing sound came back. Sakura stood up to get water and on her way, she heard what they were talking about.

"Hey, did you hear that there is a girl that keeps on leeching off Syaoran? They say that she's also dating another guy while hanging out with Syaoran." Sakura almost dropped the glass she was holding when she heard what all of them was talking about.

When she came back, she was quiet and it bothered her companions. "Where's your water?" Syaoran asked. He got no response. "Hey, Kinomoto. Earth to Kinomoto."

It brought her out of her reverie and realized that she didn't get a refill of her water. "Uh, they said there were none left." Syaoran believed her but Eriol seemed to think that there was something off but chose not to probe any further.

Sakura tried hard to not mind what the rest were whispering about for the rest of the day and focused into studying.

The next day, Sakura went to class a few minutes later than the day before. There were a few people already at the campus and they seem to quiet down when she pass by.

Then when she was near her class, there were girls older and the same age as her blocking her way. She didn't mind them and continued walking but she was blocked by the girls.

"How disrespectful of you. You should greet people older than you when you see them, shouldn't you?" a blond-haired girl wearing micro skirt and tube top that reaches just above her belly button said while casually looking at her newly-painted nails.

Sakura didn't want to mingle with her kind so she did as told without looking at them and proceeded walking but was again blocked. "Who do you think you are to just ignore me like that?" the blond girl screeched, her posies backing her up. Nami was one of them. More and more bystanders are coming to watch what was happening.

Getting pissed, she got her arms away from the other girls who were holding her, she said, "Oh, I totally forgot – old people are deaf." She said, without emotion as she walked her way to her room.

Insulted, the blond girl pulled Sakura's hair and dragged her at the center of the crowd. "Listen, everyone! This girl right here is the one who has been leeching off Syaoran and the other guy she's dating is Eriol Hiiragizawa." It was then that Sakura saw Eriol within the crowd.

"Let go of me!" Sakura tried to get out of her grasp but she couldn't manage to and she was threatened to cut her hair.

"That guy there is the Eriol Hiiragizawa." She pointed out after seeing him within the pool of people. The people around him backed away from him as if he were some virus. "He's this bitch's ally with fooling Syaoran. They are secretly dating each other while befriending Syaoran and making him believe that his bitch is for Syaoran to get his money and fame." The blond made up and this made Sakura snap.

She didn't hesitate when she got the scissors and cut her own hair to lose free from her grasp. Eriol was about to come to her aid when she glared at him and said, "Huh, that was one quite good story you got there but you got some details wrong." She looked at Eriol with sad eyes for a second and continued, smirking. "Yes, I was fooling with Li but Hiiragizawa's not with me. Heck – he didn't even know that I was dating the two of them at the same time. You should get your facts straight before calling out this general meeting." Everyone remained silent for a moment but Nami began cursing Sakura again and everyone joined in, as well.

"Stop it, all of you!" Eriol said, as he approached Sakura but he was more surprised when Sakura smirked at him.

"What are you doing? Are you still in denial after hearing those words? Since I was found out and told everyone the truth, we're done. I don't think you'd want someone fooling you." She said, without fail and turned her back from the stunned Eriol.

...-...

**Author's note: **Thank you for reading! So...? How was it? Any word for me? 3


	4. Chapter 4 - They Finally Met

**Chapter IV - They Finally Met**

Everyone listening was surprised with what she confessed, especially Eriol. Even when Sakura left, he just stood at the same place – not sure of what to do. People approached and tried to comfort him seeing how lost and confused he seemed. He doesn't know how things got to that point.

Sakura knew that it's not good to go back for the time being, especially with what she just said to them. That was just a spur-of-the-moment speech that leaves her relieved and anxious at the same time. She knew this would happen anytime soon but with everything that the three of them have gone through – everything that made them closer – she, somehow, forgot about the consequence.

She kept on sighing as she walked home then when she passed by a shop with a large glass window, she saw her reflection- her clothes were not in good shape and her hair was in a mess. She saw a salon nearby and spontaneous went inside.

After she was done with the salon, she opened her phone and read Eriol's message, "Where are you and what's with that scene?" she knew that her friend was pretty worried about her but she couldn't do anything. That was the only thing she could've thought in her situation to not drag him in her problems.

"Sorry you had to be dragged in my mess. Don't worry. I think I'll take a few days away from school for now and please, if possible, don't let Syaoran know about this. Sorry." She was glad that at least there was someone who's worried about her. After sending her reply, she turned her phone off and headed home.

Syaoran was bored listening to old people and so he sent a message to Sakura. He waited for her reply but received none even after sending her almost ten messages. She would have usually replied in an instant, scolding him of how free he was despite being in a business meeting.

She had always been keeping him smiling and energized when his schedule becomes quite busy.

He knew that he was developing a new kind of feeling for her and he liked it. He could already feel that Sakura had started to warm up with him after weeks of being together although he could feel that his other friend is also falling for her.

He dialled her number but she couldn't be reached. Frustrated, he slammed his phone on the oak coffee table in front of him. The people with him looked at him. "Oh, sorry. It just slipped off my hand. Please continue with what you were doing."

The people returned to what they were doing but were surprised that Syaoran was actually showing anger for the first time. He was always smiling and friendly with them but never angry that's why they were quite surprised when he slammed the phone on the table.

"Kinomoto, pick up your phone or I'll charge into your apartment and keep on bothering you." He mumbled as he dialled her number again.

"She sure lets out the best in you, doesn't she?" Syaoran was surprised when he heard his manager behind him talk to him. He didn't know that he was there, or even know what he was having problems with.

"Huh? Who are you talking about?" he pretended not to know what his manager was talking about.

His manager smiled and took a seat adjacent to him and stared at him while sipping his coffee. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe someone who we can hide in the name Sakura?"

Hearing her name, his face grew pink a bit and his manager laughed at his innocence. "W-what are you laughing at? And why do you think that I was thinking about Kinomoto?"

His manager smirked. "Who said that I was referring to Sakura Kinomoto? I only said, let's hide her identity in the name Sakura. Oh, so you were really thinking of Sakura Kinomoto, weren't you?"

"Let's just continue with what we were doing. I want to go back early." Syaoran said, not replying his smirking manager.

Eriol came to class early like he usually does and he thought that it'd be another normal day but he was wrong. When he arrived, he was surprised to see a crowd near his room. He thought that it might be Syaoran surrounded by his fans but when he came closer, he could hear whispers from them.

"I can't believe it's her. How could she do it?"

"How shameless!"

"Going out with two guys? What a slut!"

He didn't know what was happening and he was surprised when he saw Sakura being pulled by her hair. "Let go of me!" Sakura tried to get out of her grasp but she couldn't manage to and she was threatened to cut her hair.

He wanted to help her and so he walked towards them and then the blond girl saw him and said, "That guy there is the Eriol Hiiragizawa. He's this bitch's ally with fooling Syaoran. They are secretly dating each other while befriending Syaoran and making him believe that his bitch is for Syaoran to get his money and fame." He didn't know how things ended up that way and he was surprised with what he heard.

He was about to help her when she suddenly got the scissors from the blond girl and cut her own hair to lose free from her grasp. Eriol stepped forward but Sakura glared at him and looked back at the groupies and said, "Huh! That was one quite good story you got there but you got some details wrong." She looked at Eriol with sad eyes for a second and continued, smirking. "Yes, I was fooling with Li but Hiiragizawa's not with me. Heck – he didn't even know that I was dating the two of them at the same time. You should get your facts straight before calling out this general meeting."

Everyone listening was surprised with what she revealed, especially Eriol. He saw Sakura being bullied as she was walking home so he followed her. "Stop it, all of you!" Eriol said, as he approached Sakura but he was more surprised when Sakura smirked at him.

"What are you doing? Are you still in denial after hearing those words? Since I was found out, we're done. I don't think you'd want someone fooling with you." She said, without hesitation and turned her back from the stunned Eriol.

He knew that she was just being framed and that she was just forced to agree with their lies when he was also dragged into the mess. She was just helping him but he couldn't do anything.

He wanted to know what was happening so he approached the blond girl who was laughing with her posies. "Why did you do that to her?"

All of them stopped laughing and stared at him. The blond girl looked at him with fake pity as she approached him. "Why? Because she was fooling Syaoran and you. We're sorry we blamed you for something you didn't do. I didn't know that she was actually doing it without the two of you knowing it. What a slut! You shouldn't hang out with her anymore and you should just forget about that bitch or-"

She was cut off when a hand suddenly passed by her head. She saw Eriol glaring at her with maximum intensity that her knees shook. He had punched the wall behind the girl when he snapped after hearing those insults thrown to her when she didn't even do any one of them.

"I don't mind if you guys are older than us but don't you ever dare call her a bitch or a slut 'cause the only people who are fit to be called them are you lowlifes!" All of them were frightened and they took the chance to get away from him when he stopped talking and kept glaring at them.

Everyone who witnessed that scene was shocked, especially his classmates who have only seen him being kind and always laughing. Eriol tried to keep his anger at bay and when he saw that they were gone, he sighed and ruffled his hair in distress. He saw other people still looking at him.

He stared at them and almost all of them stepped backwards when he faced them. "Don't believe what those liars told you! Sakura never dated any of us. She never even showed any romantic feelings towards us. Don't ever let me catch you guys talking at her back!" he shouted before leaving.

When he was about to call Sakura, he received a message from her. "What 'don't worry' is she saying? This is not any ordinary problem that she could just laugh off." Then he read the last words she said, "Please don't tell Li." He dialled her number but her phone was already turned off. He wanted to go to her place but he doesn't know where it was so he just went to his own apartment.

Sakura woke up in sweat after having a nightmare about Syaoran being disappointed in her after knowing that she was just fooling with him and that she was also going out with Eriol.

She stood up and washed her face with cold water, not that she wasn't awake enough. 'What's with that dream? Why was I so affected with it?' she thought then something came into mind. "Maybe I've fallen-?" she stared at her reflection then the meaning of her words sunk in. "N-no. I must be joking! There's no way that I would fall for that jerk!" she denied as she slapped herself.

"There's no way I'd fall for him! It was because of him that I am in this situation. If it weren't for the girls who fell for him, I wouldn't..." her words died down when she realized that she felt down when she realized that there were a lot more girls who vies for his affection. He would never fall for someone like her.

This thought depressed her even more so she came back to her bed and lied down, staring at the ceiling, waiting for sleep to come over her.

"Sakura. Sakura!" the girl opened her eyes and saw Miko looking at her with concerned eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked as she helped Sakura sit up.

"Miko nee-chan? I'm alright. Why?" Sakura asked, not knowing what Miko was meaning.

Miko wasn't satisfied with her answer. "You cried in your sleep and you looked like you were having a nightmare."

Sakura was surprised with what she said then she realized that there were actually tears on her cheeks. "Oh, I don't quite remember what I dreamed of. Since when did you come back?" she lied, changing the topic.

The older woman didn't want to pry more so she answered her question. "I came back yesterday after lunch and found you asleep until now. You didn't go to class, did you?" Sakura couldn't say what happened so she just sheepishly smiled at her and nodded.

"What a girl! I just left for a few days and you don't go to school? Get up now and get ready for school." Miko ordered as she pulled the younger one off the bed.

Sakura looked at the clock. "But it's 3:30 already! My last class has started already and I don't think that I could catch up with them if I go now." She reasoned. "Can't I just sleep in for today? I promise I'll go to school tomorrow."

"Okay. You can stay here for today but you still have to take a bath 'cause we're going shopping." Miko said, smirking, knowing how Sakura didn't like shopping as much.

"What?! Oh, no! I definitely will stay here! You can't make me!" she whined as she tried to grab the headrest of her bed.

Thirty minutes later, Sakura was fresh from bath and was in her boyish clothes. "What's with that outfit? Well, that's fine 'cause we're going shopping. We can change your clothes later." Miko said, leaving the girl mouth open.

Sakura was being dragged from one store to another. Miko just throws her clothes and dresses that she find cute for Sakura. On their 6th shop, Sakura was already at her limit. "These are enough! I don't think I'd need more clothes than these. Plus, I don't have a chance to wear these dresses." She whined at Miko who just smiled at her.

"It's your punishment for not changing your clothes with what I bought." Miko said.

As they entered, people were looking at them and there was a guy who was glad to see her. "Sakura."

Sakura looked to where the voice was from and was surprised to see Eriol inside the shop. "Eriol?" she shyly replied, not looking at him straight.

Miko thought that Sakura was being shy because she liked him so she befriended the guy. "Hi, so you know my Sakura here? I'm Miko. Nice meeting you." She said and Eriol introduced himself as well as the two of them shook hands.

"Uh, you might have something to do, so we better on our way. C'mon, Miko-nee." Sakura said as she pulled Miko deeper into the shop but Miko had something planned.

"Are you free? Why don't you come with us? We were just finishing shopping for Sakura's wardrobe. This girl is hopeless, you know." Miko said, without waiting for his reply and thus, pulling him as well inside the shop.

Sakura just sighed and surrendered. "Sorry, you had to be pulled into my cousin's charade." She apologized when Miko left the two of them while she was looking for her dress.

Eriol observed that Sakura was quite uncomfortable that she was putting up a distance between them and that she wasn't even looking at him.

"I could go if you want to." Eriol replied as he stared at her.

Sakura was surprised that she whipped her head towards him. "No, I didn't mean it that way. I-" She was stopped when she saw Eriol smile at her.

"You worry about others too much. I don't mind being here but you seemed uncomfortable that maybe you wanted me gone." Eriol said, happy knowing that she was a little herself.

"Uh, don't mind me. I'm actually glad I saw you. It's just that-" she was cut off again.

"Don't think about what happened the other day. I told everyone that it was all a lie and Syaoran doesn't know." Hearing that Syaoran doesn't know about what happened, she felt a bit better but she scolded herself for feeling so.

'You can't fall for him! You'll only hurt yourself if you do.' She said to herself. "Thanks. I owe you much." She replied.

"Yes, you really owe me so much." Sakura was surprised that he said those words. She didn't think that he was someone who would say those words but she was glad when he continued. "Who in their right mind would confess the lies that other people made? Do you think you're some kind of a hero that could take all the blame?"

She couldn't say anything. She knew that he was just worried about her. "Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. I couldn't think of anything else to do at that moment. They were insulting you. I couldn't take it when someone is insulting my friend because they don't like me."

Eriol sighed then rubbed her hair. "I'm just glad you're fine." He said, smiling. Then as if on cue, Miko came with a heap of dresses.

"Eriol, help me choose a cute dress for our friend here." She ordered as she pushed a whining Sakura inside the dressing room.

While Sakura was fitting the dresses, the two of them chatted. And every time she comes out, showing them what it looks like to her, Miko realized that Eriol was quite captured by Sakura. "Oh, I think someone here has eyes for my Sakura." Miko said in a sing-song manner that only Eriol could hear.

Eriol realized that he was actually ogling at Sakura so he averted his eyes and busied himself looking at other things except her. "So, how does it look? Don't I look awkward? Eriol?"

He snapped his head back when he heard his name being called and he was awed when he saw Sakura in a green strapless dress which accentuated her emerald orbs. The dress perfectly hugged her curve up to just her waist and the skirt flowed with every move she makes.

"Eriol? hey!" Sakura said as she waved a hand in front of his face.

Eriol was snapped out of his reverie and he realized that Sakura was looking at him worried. "Uh, i-it looks nice on you." He stuttered and Miko smirked.

Sakura blushed when she heard what Eriol was said. It was her first time being complimented by a guy.

"Okay! We'll take that one!" Miko said to the woman attending to them.

"Huh? B-but..." Sakura started complaining but she was again pulled by Miko from the dressing room and they proceeded to the counter and paid for her dress.

"No buts, young lady. We'll get that and that's final. Get the shoes we bought earlier and wear it." Sakura couldn't do anything anymore so she complied grudgingly and wore the sandals that they bought at the previous store. "Let me see." The older woman instructed and Sakura sighed after standing up.

"Happy?" she said, pouting. Miko threw a knowing look at Eriol who blushed and evaded Sakura's stare.

Miko smiled and nodded. "Yes, super happy. Let's go and eat! Eriol, you should come with us. You helped us out a lot."

Sakura didn't get what the two of them were talking about but she was glad that at least she could be with Eriol.

The three of them ate and chatted along the way. Since Eriol lived just a few blocks away from the two girls, the three of them rode home at the same taxi. They stopped by the girls' place first. "Eriol, can you be a sweetie and help us unload these bags?" Miko asked the lad and he agreed.

"But there are just a few of them. We can carry all of them by ourselves." Sakura said in oblivion. Miko shook her head and pulled her towards their apartment and left the lad to follow them.

"It's alright for you, right?" the lad nodded as he followed the two of them and Sakura could just follow the older woman. When they dropped the bags, Miko stared at Eriol and said, "Can you fetch this lazy girl tomorrow to be sure that she could attend classes?" Sakura was opposing her but Eriol nodded.

"No, really. You don't have to come by here. I can get to class on my own." Sakura said.

"Miko's right. You've missed a lot of classes already. Plus, I and another busybody had been waiting for you to come back. He can't stop asking me and anybody else why you haven't attended classes." Sakura felt her heart skip a beat. Seeing that the girl wasn't opposing anymore, he said, "So, see you tomorrow. I'll come by and pick you up. Bye, thanks for the company."

Sakura just stood at the doorway as she looked at Eriol's retreating back. When she couldn't see him anymore, she went back to her room and lied down on her bed.

She stretched her body as she yawned. "Why did my heart skip a beat then?" She whispered to herself then she remembered what happened while they were shopping. She remembered how she felt when Eriol complimented how she looked. "Maybe I got it all wrong! It's not Syaoran who I fall for. It must be Eriol. Yes, I'm sure it's him. Everything makes sense now! There's no way I could fall for that guy..." her last words slurring as she fell asleep.

"Riiing! Riiing! Riiing!" the alarm clock beeped and Sakura awoke, looking and chasing the running alarm clock.

"Ugh! I haven't had enough sleep yet!" Sakura complained as she rubbed the sleepiness off her eyes and gradually stood up. She went into the shower and remembered the recurring dream she had last night that kept her awake for almost all night. "Aaah! Why do I have to keep on dreaming about the same thing over and over again?"

It was the same dream about Syaoran knowing that she just fooled him but the dream this time continued. Syaoran left her and then looked for comfort from the girls of his fans club.

She was so pissed that he had to ruin her morning and she dreaded to see him. 'I can't keep on hanging out with him or else, I might drag Eriol with my problem again. Plus, falling for someone like him is impossible! I can't fall for the likes of him.'

She was done preparing when she heard Miko saying that Eriol has arrived. "Okay! I'll come down in a sec!" She replied as she did final retouches on her new look which Miko had provided her.

When she got out, Eriol smiled how her fashion sense evolved overnight from her tomboy looks to that of a smart casual gal. "Nice look. It suits you." Eriol said and Sakura was getting used to his compliments but a light shade of pink that crept her face didn't escape Miko's eyes.

"Let's go." Sakura said as she led Eriol out of their apartment.

"But you haven't eaten breakfast yet!" Miko reminded as they left.

"I'm not hungry! Gotta go, bye!" Sakura replied without looking back.

"You sure you won't have your breakfast? We have lots of time to spare before class starts." Eriol offered but Sakura declined.

"No, I'm really fine. I'm not in the mood to eat, anyway. Let's just walk slowly. I don't want to go early but if you don't want to, you could go on ahead first." Sakura suggested as she walked like she had nothing to worry about, taking notice of every detail of the things that they pass by.

Eriol stared at her and knew that he had to stay by her side or she might get lost again. "No, I don't want to go there this early, too." He replied and the two of them walked leisurely and when they arrived at their room, everybody grew quiet.

Eriol saw her flinch when she realized that they stopped talking and looked at them so he squeezed her hand to let her know that it was alright and she actually calmed down a bit when he did.

There was a pair of amber orbs that didn't fail to see what happened. He was surprised when the two of them came in together but thought that they might have just met outside of the class but when he saw Eriol squeeze her hand, he knew that there was something different about them.

Eriol greeted Syaoran but Sakura acted as if she hadn't seen him and continued to sit down on her seat as quiet as possible.

Syaoran found it odd. "Hey, where were you these last two days?" Sakura didn't answer him and he thought that she might have not heard him. "Why were you absent? Oh, you must have been with your boyfriend and had-"

He was cut off when he saw Sakura glare at him. "Would you shut your mouth? Don't talk like you know me." Both Syaoran and Eriol were surprised with her action.

"Hey, do you have your period that's why you are so grumpy?" Syaoran blurted out.

"Don't get so familiar with me. We are just classmates so stop pretending like you care for me." This time, Syaoran couldn't say a word. He was far from surprised at the sudden change in her attitude.

He had heard her say those words before but today was different. She said the words with such intensity and he knew that she wasn't joking anymore.

He looked at Eriol and asked what was happening with her but Eriol promised not to tell him, even though he was the cause of the current situation Sakura was in.

Syaoran knew that the two of them were hiding something and that they wouldn't let him know about it so he just pretended that he didn't know. He just hoped that maybe the next few days, Sakura would return to being herself but his hope was not answered when three weeks has passed and she hasn't talked to him aside from school works.

He was getting pissed that Sakura was getting closer to Eriol each minute they spend with each other and he could not do anything. This morning, he saw Sakura laughing with the long-haired hottie as they came to class. He knew then that them going together to class wasn't just pure coincidence and this angered him but what angered him the most was the fact that she could laugh heartily without him.

For the first time after three weeks, Sakura wasn't plagued by Syaoran in her dreams and she woke up with a good start that's why she was in a good mood and when Eriol came to pick her up, he told her the dream he had last night.

"Because of you I had a nightmare! I was eating normally when suddenly the food I was eating grew 10 feet tall! Imagine a giant carrot and chicken leg, let alone, chasing you! If my clock hadn't alarmed, I'm sure I could have been eaten alive by my food. I don't want to go with you eat when you're down again, ever!" He said and Sakura couldn't stop laughing.

_The two of them and Miko were at the girls' place, hanging out when Miko realized that Sakura had sighed a dozen times for the last minute. "Stop sighing, will you? It's getting me depressed, as well! Wait here and I'll buy you food." Miko said as she stood up and got her wallet._

_Eriol was surprised when Miko came back with two large bags. "Are you stocking for an upcoming storm?" Eriol asked. He was thinking that Miko would only buy a gallon of ice cream or a few snacks that he was shocked when he saw her come back with two large bags._

_Miko laughed. "Oh, no, you're wrong. The storm's already here." Eriol stared at her, not knowing what she was saying and when he turned to Sakura, he saw her blush._

_"You mean Sakura?" Miko nodded and laughed then she opened the bags and laid the food she bought on the table. There were lots of sweets in different kinds._

_They started eating as they watched a movie. As they watched, Eriol occasionally watch Sakura and every time he does, she eats a different kind and it wasn't long till she finished all of them._

They laughed and before they knew it, they were at their room, Syaoran was already there. Sakura was in the mood to be friendly to him when she saw that he was looking at her with questions and doubts, she felt her heart sunk but chose not to let it see through her expression and pretended that she didn't see Syaoran.

As morning went by, she felt her body getting warm by the hour. Summer air had just left and was replaced by the cold autumn air and Sakura isn't exactly healthy to ward off sickness.

She was walking from her last class towards home when he passed by a large crowd surrounding an area where trailers and lighting equipments are being set up.

When she just thought that it was her best day because she woke up without nightmares and that Syaoran's fans club weren't there to bully her like they had done when Eriol wasn't around, it had just become worse.

She spotted a familiar emerald-eyed man in his early 40's standing with his back against her and not wanting to get spotted, she grabbed that chance to walk away before he could turn her way but she wasn't lucky enough to do so.

A man came after her and said that she was chosen to be one of the students to participate in the shooting of a national documentary video. She was about to decline when her History professor came and talked her into it. "I'll be giving you an additional 50 points in your exam if you participate. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so grab it."

History has been the hardest course for her and she was in danger of failing it so she had no choice but to accept it, even though she didn't like it. She was then surprised that Syaoran and the man she wanted to avoid a while ago was talking with each other and another old guy.

She was escorted towards them and then she remembered that the other guy with them was one of the old men she met when she met Syaoran.

"Kinomoto-san! It's nice to see you again!" the other two men were surprised to see her there and wanted to ask what she was doing there when the oldest spoke. "This is Sakura Kinomoto. As you may know, these are Syaoran Li and Eishi Amamiya. Both of them are known in this business."

Sakura smiled her fake smile and bowed in greeting at the two of them without looking at their faces. "Hello. Nice meeting you." Then she faced the director. "It's nice to see you again, Kairi-san. I didn't know that you were going to do a shooting here." She said, not minding the other two men.

"Yeah, we kind of kept it secret for a while. So how have you been doing?" the director asked.

"I'm good. I'm enjoying my stay here, actually. Thanks to you I could stay here without worries." Sakura thanked truthfully.

"Oh, it was nothing. We were glad that we could be of some help to a young student like you. And thanks to you, too, that six children have been sent to prestigious schools already and we're still looking for more." Then as if on cue, a man approached the director and asked for his presence in some of the set ups. "Why don't you stay here with these two gorgeous men while I go fix some things." He offered but Sakura refused right away.

"There's no need. I should just prepare what I should do so that I won't get in the way later on." She reasoned and the two men knew that she didn't want to be left with them.

"Okay, then. Kai, bring Kinomoto-san to the set." The director ordered and left after Sakura left, lead by the man who approached the director awhile ago.

When Sakura was gone, Eishi asked the director. "You seem to know that girl. How'd you meet her?"

"Oh, that smart kid there was the one who won the trip to Paris with Syaoran I told you about." He explained before leaving them.

"She told us that instead of the trip, she'd want to have it spent to her studies because she didn't want to bother her parents. So she said but I don't think they were that poor. She could afford studying here without worries and I haven't told anyone about it but one reason she didn't want to accept the trip was because she hates actors." Syaoran explained as he stared at where Sakura was, remembering the first time they met.

Eishi was surprised with what he heard. "Really? How'd you know?"

"She said it to me accidentally when there was no one around. At first, she pretended to be sweet to us in front of other people but when we were alone, she spilled and after a few days." Syaoran answered, smirking.

"Did she tell you why?" Eishi asked and Syaoran was curious why he wanted to know but maybe he just wanted to know.

"No, every time I ask her, she won't tell. She'd just say, 'just because'." Eishi smirked as he remembered something and Syaoran was wondering why he reacted that way.

"What an intriguing girl." Eishi commented as the two of them looked at her.

Fortunately for Sakura, the task given to her didn't took her long to finish and right after she did, she grabbed her things and went home but she didn't know that someone was following her.

When the two of them were in some place quiet and where no one was looking, the man called out to her. "Sakura." Hearing her name with that voice made her flinch a bit then when she had recovered, she continued walking as if she hadn't heard him.

"Sakura, please. Let's have a talk. I haven't seen you for a long time and I was happy that I could see you here. I thought I'd have a hard time looking for you when I come here but it surprised me that you joined us." Eishi told her as he followed her until she stopped.

Sakura stopped in her tracks and she felt anger rising. "Stop it! Why would you look for me, anyway? I'm just a nobody to someone like you. It won't matter if you see me or not 'cause you've left us ages ago and I don't have any ties with you anymore!" Tears flowed down her cheeks and she couldn't stop the anger that was welling up. Raindrops started to fall over them but it didn't faze her. "I don't know why such a _famous_ person like you came and beg just to talk to me."

It was hard for Eishi but he knew that she was right. "Let's just find shelter for a while and continue our talk there." He said, calmly.

"Why? Are you tired of hearing your mistakes? Okay, just take this lightly but I don't mind. Is this what you have done when mom begged you to stay? Did you just brush it off like dust in your clothes?" Sakura's voice was getting louder and louder, her tears falling down continuously. "Because of you, mom suffered so much! Because of you she died! Just because you wanted fame, you left your family?"

...-...

**Author's Note: **Thank you for reading! Yet another chapter is done and I can't wait to hear any comment and criticism from you, guys!


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